we hear politicians talk about deficits and debt all the time. >> debt,. >> deficit. >> deaf. debt. >> how they can get it to slow down or tick back the other way continues to be the challenge. but first, where we have been. >> let's look at debt through history. the amount we owe has ebbed and flowed. our country's habit of spending more than it takes in is nothing new. while wree currently at the highest level of debt our country has seen, 1835 saw the lowest recorded debt at just $34,000 under president andrew jackson. it was an unsuccessful assassination attempt on him that year. in 1865 a president that did parish from such an attack, president abraham lincoln over saw a debt of $3 billion. fast-forward to black tuesday in 1929. the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the united states. our national debt rose to $17 billion then. then came world war ii, a very expensive one. and by d-day in 1945 our debt ballooned to $259 billion, a quarter of a trillion dollars. and then to more recent times. the 2008 financial crisis. the amount of our debt our country